Apparatus for polishing metal bodies.



H. W. SPELLMAN.

APPARATUS FOR POLISHING METAL BODIES.

' APPLICATION FILED MAY 21.1915- 1 178 821 Patented Apr. 11, 1916.

2 SHEETS-SHEET1.

H'. W. SPELLMAN; ,APPARATUS FOR POLISHING METAL BODIES.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 21, 1915. 1,178,827.

Patented Apr. 11, 1916.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2- UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HERBERT w. SPELLMAN, or NEW BRITAIN, ooNNEorIouscI APPARATUS FOR POLISHING- METAL BODIES.

Application filed May 21, 1915.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HERBERT \V. SPELL- MAN, a citizen of the United States, residing at New Britain, Hartford county, State of Connecticut, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Apparatusfor Polishing Metal Bodies, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to a new apparatus for polishing metal bodies, being particularly adapted for polishing the surface of cutlery and other steel bodies.

At the present time, and prior to my invention, in producing a highly finished surface upon metallic articles, and especially upon cutlery, crocus has been employed to. produce what 18 known as a crocus finish,

the article being subjected to the action of a wheel treated with crocus. The preparation of the wheel requires much skill and patience, and is at the best extremely slow, as is also the polishing operation, and the obtaining of a crocus finish upon articles is therefore very expensive. The object of my spider with some of the arms removed. Fig.

4 is an end' elevation of the same. Figs. 5, 6 and 7 are details of thearm supports, and Figs. 8 and 9 are side and plan views of the arms.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, 1 is a vertical drum or container hav-' ing horizontal hollow trunnions 2 extending from each side. This drum-is formed in two is a vertical spider 12 mounted on the hori- 7 parts, 3, 3, the latter of which has a gear 1 cast thereon. The trunnions of the drum are mounted in journals 5 carried by supports 6. The drum is closed, being provided 'with a manhole and cover 7 secured thereto .by'tliumb-nuts'8. '9 is a shaft mounted in suitable journals having a driving pulley 10 and a pinion 11 which engages the gear a for slowly driving the drum, Within the drum Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 11, 1916.

Serial No. 29,536.

zontal shaft 13, which iscarried by journals 14 also supported by the supports 6. These journals support the shaft 13 so that it is carried independently of the trunnions 2 of the spider and are separated from the journals 5 so as to leave spaces between them; In these spaces are rings 15 secured to the shaft 13 by set screws 15 so as to center-the spider within the drum. The result of thus supporting the drum and spider by independent means is that the opposing surfaces of the two moving parts 1 and 13 do'not grind upon each other, and any polishing material which Works out from the drum through the trunnions does not materially cut or abrade either the interior of the shaft or the interior surface of the trunnion. On 1 the shaft 13 is a pulley 16 which is driven by abeltl'? from the pulley 18 on the counter-shaft 19. From a second pulley 20 on theshaft 19 a belt 20' also passes to'the pulley 10 on the gear-shaft 9. The parts areso arranged that when the counter-shaft 19 is slowly driven the spider and drum are also slowly driven and in opposite directions. The drum is preferably made about forty inches in internal diameter. The spider 12 is provided with lateral projections 21 and pivotally supported on them are carriers 22, 22 each of which is provided with an adjusting arm 23 and a set screw 24 so that the carriers can from time to time beadjusted in different positions, relative to said spider. Each carrier is'provided with three sockets 25 having set screws 26 for holding arms 27 The arms are also provided with sockets 28 having set screws 29 for holding the shanks of the knives or other articles to be polished.

The sockets are so disposed that those-on successive carriers are out of line with each other. The major axes of the knives lie in their planes of revolution and are substantially at right angles to the arms. The drum 1 is about one-quarter filled with pulverulent polishing compound 30.

' In its preferred form, this compound is composed of crocus, ahard ,abrading substance such as finely divided carborundum or emery, and, in some instances, cork crumbs, such as the granulated cork-used for packing grapes. The cork-1s usefulwhen the compound is at all-moist since it keeps it from packing, but may be omitted under otherfconditions. The hard abrading-substance acts as an enl vener for the creens and produces more rapid jpolishing action without materially preventing the de sired high polish. 1 preferably use a little more carborundum or emery (by weight) than crocus.

Inusing my apparatus, the articles to be polished are secured to the arms 27 on the spider and the spider and drum are then slowly rotated in opposite directions. llhis gives the steel the desiredhnish when the process is otherwise properly carried out. In order to prevent grooving or scoring of the surface being polished I change the an gular positions of the articles relative to their paths through the compound from time to time by adjusting the carriers 2, '22. Thus I preferably change the positions once every twenty-four hours. A complete polishing may require four or five days of twenty-four hours each and in some instances six or seven such days, depending on the original condition of the surfaces. A period of forty-eight hours may be permitted to elapse before the first change in position. The rotation of the drum keeps the ingredients of the compound thoroughly mixed and prevents it from packing, it being continually turned over as the apparatus operates. Vith articles such as knives the relative motion is always in the same direction, point first, and the sides of the knives are kept at right. angles to the axis of revolution. \Vith forks, the direction of rotation is reversed from time to time so as to polish the rear surfaces.

Then the apparatus is used as above described, the metal surface takes on a remarkable mirror-like polish, such as has heretofore been attained only by hand polishing.

The process described is described in a companion application Serial No. 29,538 filed by me on the same day herewith.

As will be evident to those skilled in the art, my invention permits of various modi ficatio'ns without departing from the spirit thereof or the scope of the appended claims.

What I claim is:

1. In a polishing apparatus. the combination of a container, a plurality of workholding clamps therein, means for supporting said clamps, means for changing the position of said clamps relatively to said supporting means, and means for causing a relative movement of rotation between said supportingmeans and said container.

'2. Ina polishing apparatus, the combination of a container, aplurality of workholding clamps therein, means for support ing said clamps meansfor changing the positibn of said clamps relatively to said supporting means, and n eans for causing a relative movementof rotation between said supporting means-and said container,

009m of this patent ms obtained as:

five cents each, by addressing: the

amass? said supporting means having independently movable portions carrying said clamps and to which said clamps are removably secured, and means for securing said movable portions in any one of a plurality of positions.

3. In a polishing apparatus, the combination of a container, a spider therein, arms carried by said spider, means for causing a relative movement of revolution between said container and spider, and means for adjusting said arms relatively to said spider in a plurality of positions in a plane at right angles to the axis of said revolution.

4. In a polishing apparatus, the combination of a container, a Spider therein, arms carried by said spider, means for revolving said container about an axis out of the verti'cal, means for revolving said spider about the same axis, and means for adjusting said arms relatively to said spider in a plurality of positions in a plane at right angles to the axis of said revolution.

5. In a polishing apparatus, the combination of a container, a spider therein, arms carried by said spider, means for revolving said container about an axis out of the vertical, means for revolving said spider about the same axis, and means for adjusting said arms relatively to said spider in a plurality of positions in a plane at right angles to the axis of said revolution, said container and spider being supported independently of one another.

6. In a polishing apparatus, the combination of a container, a spider therein, clamps carried by said spider, means for revolving said container about an axis out of the vertical, means for revolving said spider about the same axis, and means for adjusting said clamps relatively to said spider in a plurality of positions in a plane at right angles to the axis of said revolution, said container having horizontal trunnions and saidspider having a horizontal shaft, and means for supporting said trunnions and shaft by independent bearing surfaces connected together ,at their upper portions.

7. In a polishing apparatus, the combination of a container, a spider therein, means for causing a relative movement of revolution between said spider and container, movable carriers mounted on said spider and adjustable relatively to said spider in a plane at right angles to the axis of revolution and removable arms supported by said carriers and means for adjusting said carriers.

rinnnnsr w. S'PELLMAN.

Witnesses ROBERT K. Hircnnns, FRANK T. Punnnason- @eiamisaioner of Eaten",

Washiae'tes, ,2. 

